Wireless devices can communicate with each other through a wireless access network. The wireless devices can establish wireless links with the wireless access network, after which each wireless device can communicate data with the wireless access network. Communication of data between wireless devices can be accomplished by a source wireless device sending the data to the wireless access network, which then forwards the data to the destination wireless device.
A different type of wireless communication between wireless devices involves device-to-device (D2D) communication. In a D2D communication, wireless devices that are in sufficiently close proximity to each other can send data directly to each other, without first sending the data to the wireless access network. The establishment of a D2D link between wireless devices can still be controlled by the wireless access network.